


Reconciliation

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 01:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim gets a letter from his father...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reconciliation

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sentinel Thursday

Jim frowned slightly as he slit open the envelope that had arrived in that day's mail. The writing looked familiar, but he couldn't immediately identify it; but when he opened the folded sheet of paper and saw the signature, he sighed.

No wonder it hadn't been immediately obvious who had written to him; he hadn't had a letter from his father in over twenty years.

"Problem?" Blair asked.

"Well... no, not really. But... "

"But?"

"It's Dad. He's inviting us to his house for dinner on Sunday."

"So? It looks like he's prepared to meet you more than halfway."

"Blair. He told me... He knew about my senses when I was a kid. He knew I wasn't lying any time I said I'd seen or heard something, especially that last day when Bud was killed. He bullied me after that until... I don't know what I did to suppress them, but somehow I managed. If I'd never suppressed them, I wouldn't have had the problems I did when they resurfaced!"

"And then we might never have met. You wouldn't have gone to the hospital for a check-up, so I wouldn't have got a call about someone there complaining about lights too bright, sounds too loud... and wouldn't have come butting in on your life."

"Well, maybe not... but don't think I wouldn't have needed you. Those tribal sentinels - they all had a companion who helped to keep the senses from overwhelming them. I doubt any of them had a father with fixed ideas about freakish behaviour that 'would make the neighbours talk'."

Blair pushed back the strand of hair that had fallen over his face. "I doubt your Dad ever had much imagination," he said slowly. "He's a businessman, and businessmen usually deal in facts - hard facts. You, on the other hand, do have something of an imagination - yes, as a cop you deal in facts but how often do you have to think outside the box to put the facts together? So can you imagine the frustration your Dad must have felt when you, his older son, his heir, the boy that he wanted to see following in his footsteps and taking over as he got older, showed no interest in the business but - even as a child - reacted in a way that no hard-headed businessman ever would? He was probably gratified that his _younger_ son inherited his business instinct - "

"Yeah. Even when we were kids, urged to compete against each other... Stephen won Dad's favor more often than I did. Sometimes I think... "

"Mmm?"

"Stephen took after Dad. I wonder - did I take after Mom?"

"The potential for heightened senses is genetic, so it's possible you did get them from her. Your Dad didn't say anything to you about - well, anything like that in _his_ family?"

"No." Jim looked down again at the letter.

"Is there any way to find out if there was anything like that in her family?"

"No. She left when I was six and died when I was eleven, but even before she left, we didn't seem to have any contact with her relatives. I knew my Ellison relations, but I don't remember ever meeting any McDonald ones." 

Blair thought about that for a moment. "She could have been an immigrant, I suppose, with the rest of her family not wanting to come here. Anyway, your Dad's reaching out, making the first move towards a reconciliation."

"I... Yes, I know. And when Foster threatened him, I realized I am fond of him - he is my Dad, after all - but... " He shook his head. "He managed - somehow - to keep track of what I was doing, and he seemed to be quite proud of me... but I'm not sure that he still wouldn't prefer me to give up being a cop and join Ellison Enterprises. Especially since Stephen branched off on his own."

"If he really is proud of what you've done, though, don't you think he'd be happy to let you go on doing that? Cop of the Year, best solve rate in Major Crime?"

"Maybe," Jim said slowly.

"It won't do any harm to go to dinner with him on Sunday," Blair coaxed. "You said he invited _us_?"

"Yes."

"I can maybe talk to him about heightened senses, make him understand that very acute senses, at least one at a time, aren't all that rare, and see how he reacts."

"Just don't blind him too much with science," Jim said.

"Would I do that?" Blair asked.

"Once you get started... " Jim chuckled. "Okay, I'll phone him and accept... and warn him that you'll probably take the opportunity to tell him about sentinels across the world throughout history."


End file.
